Coming April 3, 2012…
In the sweeping new novel from the author of The Second Duchess, dangerous secrets lead a passionate young woman into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots, comes home to reign in a treacherously divided Scotland….
With her dying breath, Mary of Guise entrusts a silver casket to Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, who possesses the ancient gift of floromancy. Inside the casket, and meant only for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, are papers the old queen has painstakingly collected—the darkest secrets of every Scottish lord and explosive private prophecies prepared by Nostradamus. Rinette risks her life to keep the casket safe, but she makes a fatal mistake: she shows it to her beloved young husband. On the very day the young queen comes home, Rinette’s husband is brutally assassinated.
Devastated, Rinette demands justice from the queen before she will surrender the casket. Amid glittering masques and opulent weddings, courtly intrigues and Highland rebellions, the queen’s agents and Rinette herself search for the shadowy assassin. They are surrounded by ruthless men from all over Europe who will do anything to force Rinette to give up the casket—threatening her life, stripping her of her beloved castle by the sea, forcing her to marry a man she hates, and driving her from the man she has reluctantly grown to love. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust—and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir.
Read the first chapter of The Flower Reader here.
The Flower Reader is available for pre-order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, Books-a-Million, and your favorite independent bookstore.
Advance Praise for The Flower Reader:
Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Elizabeth Loupas writes a spellbinding story of Rinette Leslie, a spirited young woman who carries secrets and gifts that threaten the throne of Mary, Queen of Scotland in the 1560s. Assassins, secret caskets, and the whispers flowers can speak thread through the story. The flower imagery is lovely… —Karleen Koen, author of Through a Glass Darklyand Before Versailles
Elizabeth Loupas’ engaging second effort gives a thought-provoking peek into the inner workings of the court of Mary,Queen of Scots. Thick with intrigue and spiced with scandal, The Flower Reader is a lush, vibrant tapestry of a book. —Deanna Raybourn, author of The Dark Enquiry